Don't Judge By What You've Heard
by GoldGuardian2418
Summary: When the Twins make Jay fear Prowl and Magnus, the two, along with Optimus, show him that he shouldn't judge someone just by what he hears of them. Done as a request for EmeraldMoonGreen. :)


**EmeraldMoonGreen, who owns Jay, asked for this one. Here you go, Amiga! Enjoy! :)**

 **Transformers Prime belongs to Hasbro. I own nothing.**

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 **Don't Judge By What You've Heard**

Optimus was working on some paperwork when an incident that had been bugging him came to the front of his mind again. He had been noticing that whenever Prowl or Magnus had come near Jay, the boy would flinch and move to where he wasn't in their way. This had him worried as he wondered why the boy would be scared of the two Autobots.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when Jay came into his office. "Hey, Dad," he said with a smile.

Optimus smiled at the boy and picked him up in his hand. "Hello, Jay," he said. "School went well today?"

The boy nodded. "Yeah, just have a little studying to do," he said.

He then noticed Optimus looked a bit worried. "Dad, are you okay?" He asked.

"Jay, I've noticed something that has me worried," he said. "Why do you flinch whenever Prowl or Magnus come near you?"

Jay hadn't realized that his adoptive father had noticed that. "Well, the Twins told me that Prowl and Magnus were in charge of punishments and could do whatever they wanted to me," he said.

Optimus sighed deeply. "Why am I not surprised that it was them?" He asked, shaking his head. "Prowl and Magnus are in charge of punishments, yes, but only when it's necessary and the Twins have been in more trouble than other young mechs I've known."

Jay looked up at him. "Dad, are they…nice? Prowl and Magnus, I mean?"

Optimus gently ruffled his son's hair. "They're strict, as I am, but they are good mechs too," he said. "They'd never hurt you."

The boy didn't look too convinced, but sat down to study while Optimus fell into thought and decided to show Jay that he shouldn't judge someone by what he'd only heard from others. While word-of-mouth was one way of communication, seeing someone's actions too was necessary to see how someone really acted.

* * *

Prowl and Magnus were understandably furious at the Twins for spreading that rumor to their commander's son. "Those two are always causing trouble," Magnus said sharply.

"Prime, sir. Perhaps we can speak with your son here in your office?" Prowl said.

Just then, Jay walked in. "Dad, Ratchet was…," he began saying and saw Prowl and Magnus there and flinched. "Um, sorry. I…,"

He froze and Optimus motioned him over. "It's alright, Jay," he said. "Magnus and Prowl actually wanted to meet you."

Allowing Optimus to pick him up and place him on the desk, Jay straightened up and stood to attention before the other two. "You can relax, Jay," Magnus said gently. "This isn't an interrogation."

Jay relaxed his posture somewhat, but didn't dare say a word and Prowl gently cleared his throat. "Jay, what the Twins told you wasn't true," he said. "While Magnus and I do decide corrective actions for soldiers who get out of line, we would never hurt you nor would we ever physically punish you."

"The punishments we usually hand out involve cleaning a part of the base, doing extra training, or if necessary, doing time in the brig," Magnus said.

"The brig?" Jay asked curiously.

"A part of the base we use for when we've captured enemies," Prowl explained. "But we only send mechs who have done something we feel requires stricter punishment than cleaning the base or doing extra training."

Jay looked quite worried at that and Magnus gently shook his head. "Jay, we'd never do that to you," he said. "You actually are better behaved than some of the mechs I've trained."

Optimus nodded. "Thank you, Magnus," he said, appreciating the kind words. Jay seemed to relax a bit more as he saw that both Prowl and Magnus were like Optimus. They were strict when necessary, but also kind.

But Jay knew it would take some time to fully trust them.

* * *

A few days later, Jay knocked on Prowl's office door. "Come in," Prowl said and he entered, carrying a computer chip in his hands.

"Prowl, sir. Dad asked me to bring this to you," he said.

"Ah, thank you, Jay," he said and noticed Magnus standing there too. "Ah, come in, Magnus, sir."

"Thank you, Prowl," he said. "I had to put the Twins in the brig again for being smart with me in the training room."

Prowl nodded and opened a drawer in his desk before jumping back as something sprang out from the drawer and hit the wall. They saw it was a glob of slime and Prowl growled and slammed his fist down on his desk in frustration.

Jay, who was standing on Prowl's desk, flinched sharply and jumped back, catching Prowl's and Magnus' attention and the boy quickly turned to leave.

Prowl only needed a second to realize that he had just scared Jay and quickly reached for him. "Jay, wait," he said, catching the boy in his hands.

What neither him nor Magnus expected was for Jay to start crying and curling up into a ball. "Daddy! Don't let them hurt me!" Jay cried out. "I'll be a good boy! I promise! I'll be good!"

The two mechs hadn't been aware of the fact that Jay had been abused and Prowl instantly held the boy securely in his hands. "Jay, take it easy," he said, lowering his voice. "Magnus and I aren't going to hurt you."

"Easy, youngling," Magnus said softly, placing one finger on Jay's shoulder, feeling the boy tremble. "You're safe, little one."

Optimus, who had come when he heard Jay cry out, watched his two best soldiers break character to comfort the boy. Prowl saw him and nodded to him. "He needs you, sir," he said.

Optimus entered the office and accepted his son from Prowl. "Shh. I'm here, Jay," he said soothingly.

To their relief, the boy calmed down and looked up at them sheepishly. "Um, I had a panic attack, didn't I?" He asked.

They nodded. "I'm afraid I was the cause of that," said Prowl. "I'm truly sorry, Jay."

"What happened?" Optimus asked.

"The Twins pranked Prowl's desk and when he opened the drawer, that ball of slime flew out and startled us and Prowl understandably grew frustrated and he unintentionally scared Jay," Magnus explained.

Optimus sighed. "Those two are good warriors, but need to curb in their immaturity," he said.

Jay looked at Prowl. "I'm sorry, Prowl sir," he said.

Prowl shook his head. "Jay, you didn't do anything wrong," he said reassuringly.

"He's right, little one," said Magnus. "But we would like to know how we can make it up to you to show you that what the Twins told you wasn't true."

Jay looked thoughtful and Optimus chuckled. "Well, have you heard of a tickle torture?" He asked.

"Tickle torture, sir?" Prowl asked in confusion.

Optimus chuckled again before gently poking Jay's stomach and the boy laughed. "It's painless, but makes someone, especially young children, laugh uncontrollably," he explained.

Magnus was thoughtful. "I do recall Miko say something like that to Bulkhead one day," he said. "She mentioned something about laughter being the best medicine."

Prowl noticed how Jay was squirming around in Optimus' hand, but was giggling up a storm as he was being tickled. "I'm surprised he's not begging you to stop tickling him," he said to Optimus.

The leader of the Autobots chuckled. "Because he likes being tickled," he said.

Magnus chuckled in amusement. "He reminds me of the little sparklings we used to watch over before the war," he said.

The other two nodded before Optimus had an idea. "Why don't you two join me in tickling him?" He said.

Both nodded and turned on their holoforms, as did Optimus, who held Jay in a hug now and tickled his stomach, making him giggle louder. Prowl chose to tickle the young boy's sides while Magnus tickled Jay's knees.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! DADDY! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Jay laughed out, making the three laugh in amusement.

Prowl suddenly perked up as he looked up more about 'tickle tortures' on the internet. "Magnus, look at this," he said, transmitting the data to him and Magnus chuckled in amusement.

"Now that would be something I'd love to try on the Twins," he said. "Perhaps we can ask Ratchet for help on that."

Optimus looked at them curiously. "Help on what?" He asked while tickling his son's underarms.

"Magnus and I could use the tickle torture on the Twins," said Prowl. "If we can do that…,"

"Perhaps they'll think twice about their actions," Magnus finished, gently grabbing hold of Jay's ankles with one arm and holding his legs still while he continued tickling the boy's knees.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Jay laughed out as Prowl moved from tickling his sides to tickling his ribs, Optimus moved his hands to the boy's shoulder blades and Ultra Magnus began tickling the boy's stomach.

Jay felt himself run out of breath and looked up at his adoptive father pleadingly and Optimus nodded. Prowl and Magnus sensed the boy was tired and also stopped. "How are you feeling, Jay?" Prowl asked him.

Jay sat up and reached over, hugging Prowl, who jumped slightly in surprise, but returned the boy's hug. "Looks like he's feeling better," Magnus said with a smile before grunting a little in surprise when Jay hugged him too. He smiled and returned the hug. "Just a friendly warning, little one. Don't spread this around the base or Prowl and I will tickle you."

He wiggled his fingers into Jay's stomach briefly and the boy laughed a little. "I won't," he said. "You guys have a very important reputation after all, but…can we still be friends anyway?"

"Of course," said Prowl instantly and Magnus nodded.

Jay then turned to his father. "You were right, Dad," he said. "Word of mouth is good, but you can't judge on that alone."

"Very true, son," Optimus said in agreement. "Very true."

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 **Please leave a review, but no flames!**

 **GoldGuardian2418**


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